Male victims overlooked because of sexist assumptions acknowledges Minister « The Men's Network

http://brightonmanplan.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/male-victims-overlooked-because-of-sexist-assumptions-acknowledges-minister

Source: The Men's Network

Taking The Sex Out Of Trafficking – 41% of victims are male says new report

A Government Minister has acknowledged that male victims of human trafficking are overlooked and go without support because of sexist assumptions about women being the main victims.

The news came as a new government provider of human trafficking support services revealed the 41% of the victims it helps are male. This contrasted with a YouGov survey which found the public perception was that no more than 29% of victims are male –according to a report in The Guardian.

Minister for justice, Crispin Blunt, said: “Human trafficking is often seen as predominantly affecting women – meaning that male victims are often overlooked and are forced to go without the support they so desperately need.”

The news reflects an apparent move to take some of the gender politics out of human trafficking.

The last Government put the sex trafficking of women and girls on the public agenda but faced criticism in 2009 when the UK’s biggest ever investigation of sex trafficking failed to find a single person who had forced anybody into prostitution in spite of hundreds of raids in a campaign that involved every police force in the country – see report here.

A book by Laura María Agustín published in 2008 also challenged the “myth of trafficking” reporting a survey revealing that most migrant women, including those in the sex industry, made a clear decision to leave home and take their chances abroad and are not “passive victims” in need of “saving” or sending back by western campaigners.

Charities such as unseen(uk) still make bold and inaccurate  claims that as many as 800,000 women are trafficked into the EU every year. According to The Salvation Army, which now provides support services for people trafficked to England & Wales, 85 of 190 men and women it helped in the second half of 2011 were forced in sexual exploitation.

The Government faced criticism in 2011 after making a decision to award The Salvation Army a £6m Government contract to support male and female victims of human trafficking. The main critic was Eaves Housing which had previously held the Government contract for supporting female victims of sex trafficking – see report here.

The Ministry of Justice acknowledged that Eaves Housing “had done a very good job” in recent years, but the Salvation Army had put in a stronger bid for the contract, to provide support for trafficked men as well as women.

A Government spokesperson said: “Eaves are upset and it’s not great for them, but it’s much better for victims of trafficking”.

Glen Poole, Strategic Director of The Men’s Network said: “It is refreshing to hear a Government Minister acknowledge that male victims are overlooked by support services. There are many other areas including suicide support, domestic violence services, sexual violence services, family breakdown, eating disorders and genital mutilation where men and boys are often overlooked and are forced to go without the support they so desperately need”.

In 2011 The Coalition Government outlined its commitment to tackle the inequalities men experience after 100 individuals and organisations working with men and boys, led by the UK, sent a joint letter to parliament onInternational Men’s Day 2011 – read more here.

However the Government faced criticism from men’s sector in March this year when The Home Office announced that funding allocated to services for male victims of domestic and sexual violence would mostly go to women’s charities -see full report here.

Below is a banner advert from the UK charity unseen(uk) whose  focus is to combat the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation which makes the innacurate claim that as many as 800,000 women are trafficked into the EU every year.

Inaccurate claims like these  contribute to public perceptions that human trafficking is a women’s only issue meaning that male victims are often overlooked and are forced to go without the support they so desperately need.

The source of this figure appears to be a report that estimated that anywhere between 100,000 and 800,000 men and women could be being trafficked into EU countries every year.

While unseen(uk)’s charitable objective is to help ANYONE who may have been a victim of human trafficking or sexual exploitation, it’s website makes no mention of male victims – see website here.

Brave bid to tackle 21st century slavery - News - North Devon Gazette

http://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/news/brave_bid_to_tackle_21st_century_slavery_1_1331906

SOURCE: North Devon Gazette

Andy KeebleWednesday, March 28, 2012

Miriam Wakefield is pictured with the Polished Pearl 'look book' at her home in Landkey.

Designer Terry Eklund and Miriam Wakefield, company secretary.

A LIFE-changing trip to India has inspired two North Devon women to make ambitious plans to tackle the world’s largest human trafficking crisis.

Miriam Wakefield and Nicole Robyn were so moved by the plight of victims they met during a trip to the country last June that they have developed a plan to help rescue some of the three million people affected by modern-day slavery.

The friends have embarked on an incredible journey to train and employ trafficking victims in the manufacturing of luxury handbags and accessories.

Last month, against all odds, they managed to launch their Polished Pearl label at a glittering reception during the week of London Fashion Week that helped win them the support of some of the industry’s most influential movers and shakers.

Nicole Robyn, director of Polished Pearl and Anita, deputy director of Oasis India, Bangalore.

This week, the fledgling company is on the verge of securing the first order that would give dozens of young women the chance to escape a life of prostitution and abuse in the slums of Mumbai and Bangalore.

“The last nine months have been like birthing a baby,” said Miriam, from Landkey.

“We’re just two girls from Barnstaple with no business experience whatsoever but our inspiration comes from seeing the suffering of these young women.”

While in India, Miriam, 63, and American-born Nicole, 36, met a team of volunteers from Oasis India, an organisation that provides support to victims of sex trafficking.

It is hoped that the chance to design and make luxury handbags and accessories will give dozens of young women the chance to escape a life of misery in the slums of Mumbai and Bangalore.

“We spent our first day in the brothels of Mumbai, in the largest red light area in the world,” said Nicole.

“We saw the faces, held the hands, cried many tears. We will never be the same.

“Life can be dark beyond imagination for the women who have been trafficked into prostitution. They feel that they have no life beyond the brothel walls, and with little or no education, and no other work experience, they see prostitution as their only way to survive.

“We asked Oasis what they needed to help more women and they told us that although there are rescues and some restoration homes, training and employment are still the biggest need.

It is hoped that the chance to design and make luxury handbags and accessories will give dozens of young women the chance to escape a life of misery in the slums of Mumbai and Bangalore.

“It is very difficult for a woman in India to find a job in the best of circumstances, especially for those women who have never known anything but brokenness and shame.

“This is where we can make a difference.”

Using beading and textiles that are easily available in India, the manufacture of handbags and accessories will give women skills that are marketable in their own country.

“We want to employ the girls, not merely finance them,” added Miriam.

“We believe every life is a pearl – beautiful, precious, unique and rare; even though they may be hidden away in dark places, they are of great value. The idea of the handbags is that it represents something beautiful and rare on the outside but is also unique and beautiful on the inside.

“Every bag sold will help save a life.”

During the last nine months, Miriam and Nicole, together with American designer Terry Eklund, have enlisted the help of a website designer, as well as a fashion photographer and models who provided $50,000 worth of free photography used to produce a ‘look book’ for the 12 handbag designs created so far.

They have even managed to secure free CEO training for Nicole and have attracted the attention of an independent documentary film maker who has shot a short piece about the company to pitch to programme directors.

On February 18, they took their biggest gamble yet, hiring out the costume gallery at the Royal Courts of Justice as part of an audacious bid to launch Polished Pearl to the world during London Fashion Week.

They emailed 150 invites to industry moguls, as well as MPs and peers. When they received around 100 replies, they knew there was no going back.

“We weren’t even sure how we were going to pay for the hire of the hall but this is a justice issue and we were next door to the highest court in the land and felt this was exactly where we were supposed to be,” said Miriam.

“Human trafficking is the slave trade of the 21st century. I found it very symbolic that we launched Polished Pearl in the very same corridors of power where William Wilberforce abolished slavery some 200 years ago.

“Although our task looks as daunting and impossible now as it did then, I am encouraged that, as history repeats itself, it also teaches us that human trafficking can also be abolished.

“The launch went incredibly well and we hope to exhibit at London Fashion Week in September, in a category showcasing ethical design.”

On Tuesday, a meeting with a top London buyer could secure the all-important first order for the bags and kick-start the creation of the firm’s first factory in Mumbai.

“We need that order and then we’ll be in production. It’s not the usual way you run a business but we’ve flown in the face of it all round,” added Miriam.

For more information about Polished Pearl, visit www.polishedpearl.org

COL Report: Marijuana not harmless for child slaves who produce it. - International - Catholic Online

http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=44079
 12/16/2011 
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

The cannabis trade in the UK is neither hip nor harmless.

Human trafficking and slavery takes place in every country of the world. The latest shocking example involves Vietnamese children trafficked into the UK and held as slaves to work in basement cannabis farms -- sometimes in the very heart of London itself. Even more shocking is that some of these children are actually being prosecuted as criminals by British authorities.

Even if you believe it's harmless to consume, it's anything but for the child slaves who produce it.

LONDON, ENGLAND (Catholic Online) - An estimated 90 percent of the cannabis consumed in England is being produced domestically with nearly all of it grown and traded by Vietnamese criminal gangs.

Teenage children are taken into bondage in Vietnam. The most common reason involves family debt. Vietnam is one of the poorest countries of Southeast Asia and is heavily dependent on exported labor and remittances from overseas workers. Some of those children are sold to repay family debt, others are simply tricked by the false promise of a better life overseas. Sadly, once on their way to their promised land, victims find themselves ensnared in the sinister underworld of human trafficking where they are employed as slave laborers or prostitutes.
Not all of the victims are kidnapped, rather many of them are use looking to leave Vietnam and travel overseas to find work. But when these kids run afoul of human traffickers, they commonly find themselves and their families being assessed as much as $20,000 to be smuggled into Europe. That sum is so great that it is nearly impossible for the victims to pay it off. Few victims, if any, are made aware of the sum until they are in the clutches of the traffickers and it is too late to do anything about it.

As a matter of course, traffickers intimidate the children by threatening to harm their families back in Vietnam. This intimidation means that the children often cooperate with their slavers, even when discovered by authorities. When questioned, they often lie to protect their captors or simply remain silent.

Once these children arrive in England, they are put to work in houses and basements that are frequently guided and set up for the sole purpose of mass producing cannabis. Windows are blacked out, and heat lamps are used to help grow the plants. The child slaves may toil under these harsh conditions for years.

On occasion, police manage to bust these operations taking into custody traffickers and children alike. However, many of the children who have been recovered by authorities have refused to speak up and cooperate, out of fear of retaliation. Therefore, instead of being treated as the victims they are, they are often prosecuted as criminals.

And for the recovered children whom authorities plan to save, their plight hasn't ended either. Authorities report that many of these children are under extreme pressure to abscond from care and return to their captors.

Debt bondage is a common form of modern-day slavery. It capitalizes on the desire of many people, particularly the young, to escape extreme poverty and to seek better opportunities for themselves. But these optimistic youths from around the world are often prime targets for human traffickers who promise to help, but ultimately do deliberate and egregious harm in the name of greed.

Authorities explain that the Vietnamese human trafficking organizations are particularly well organized, a trait which is helping them to corner the black market on cannabis in the UK. The fact that these children are desperate to stay in Europe only complicates the problem.

Still, British authorities should reevaluate how these children are treated if they want to address the problem. Instead of treating the children as criminals, they must recognize them as victims of both circumstance and crime. Once this is acknowledged, then the path forward lies in coordinating with Vietnamese officials to protect families back home and to provide rescue and opportunity for the children in England.

Of course, much of this evil would not be happening if not for the popularity of the drug on the streets. A point that must be appreciated if these children are to be saved.

Vatican Radio - Mobilising against modern day slavery

Source: Vatican Radio
07/10/2011 15.55.23





Bishop Patrick Lynch of Southwark is chair of the migration department at the Catholic bishops conference in England and Wales. He and Cecilia Taylor-Camara, the bishops’ senior advisor on refugee and migration policy, were in the Vatican this week accompanying two officials from the Metropolitan police department for talks on combating human trafficking. They spoke with Philippa Hitchen about the vital work of the Church at local and national level to raise awareness and help end this dramatic form of modern day slavery....
Listen:
Related articles

• Modern-day slavery decried - Catholic Courier (trafficking-monitor.blogspot.com)

'Modern day slave' was exploited by Harrow pensioner Saeeda Khan, Southwark Crown Court hears (From Harrow Times)

5:24pm Monday 7th March 2011

By Jack Royston »


A HARROW pensioner deprived a Tanzanian woman of food, liberty and her rights, turning her into a “modern day slave”, a court heard today.

Saeeda Khan, 68, of Whitmore Road, made Mwanahanisi Mruke sleep on a thin mattress in the cold of her kitchen, at times getting by on just two slices of bread, and summoned her by ringing a bell, prosecutors say.

Mrs Khan is accused of stopping her leaving the house, listening in on phone calls to relatives and even preventing the 47-year-old returning home to see her parents in their dying days or attend their funerals.

But even the £10 monthly allowance she had promised her employee was only paid for the first handful of months of her four-year stay and cash supposed to be given to her daughter was never transferred, it has been claimed.

Caroline Haughey, prosecuting, told Southwark Crown Court: “Deprived of her passport, deprived of free communication with her family, deprived of her income, deprived of her liberty, deprived of her food, it is only right that her conditions when working under Saeeda Khan be described as modern day slavery.”

Eventually Ms Mruke, who was supposed to work six hours a day but allegedly did shifts three times as long, became so desperate she was left simply waiting for her visa to run out, the court heard.

She was forced to work even when ill but it was her need for medical help that left her alone with a doctor and translator and it was then she first told of her treatment in February last year, Ms Haughey said.

She was at the Shaftesbury Medical Centre, in South Harrow, when she confided in the pair and Mrs Khan, who was made to wait outside, was seen shouting at Ms Mruke both inside and outside the clinic, the court heard.

When confronted by officers about the lack of payment to Ms Mruke, the defendant said “who will help me now”, it is claimed.

Ms Haughey said: “She was given a mattress and a blanket and told to sleep on the floor in the kitchen. She says herself she had one blanket and she was very cold.”

Mrs Khan does not deny bringing Ms Mruke into Britain to work as a domestic servant but claimed in police interviews the 47-year-old wanted to sleep on a mattress and had been offered alternatives.

She denies exploiting her employee.

The trial continues.
Modern day slave' was exploited by Harrow pensioner Saeeda Khan, Southwark Crown Court hears (From Harrow Times)

gulfnews : Lewd massage parlours warned

• By Bassam Za'za', Senior Reporter
• Published: 00:00 January 25, 2011
• 

• Image for illustrative purpose only.
• Image Credit: Supplied

Dubai: Prosecutors have sent out a strong warning to parlours who hire massage therapists to offer sexual services as this will be categorised as a human trafficking crime.

An Asian woman, S.A., and her son [who remains at-large] have been referred to the Dubai Court of First Instance where they will be prosecuted for sexually exploiting three Asian girls and forcing them to offer sexual services to men in massage parlours, said Dubai Attorney General Essam Eisa Al Humaidan yesterday.

Radio 2: Nasreen Abdulla reports on the warning issued to massage parlors offering sexual services

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* Audio supplied by Radio 2

"This is the first case of its kind and in which Dubai Public Prosecution [DPP] has referred suspects accused of human trafficking — based on exploitation by compulsory sexual services," said Al Humaidan in a media statement on Monday.

"Chief Prosecutor Ali Humaid Bin Khatem, Head of Naturalisation and Residency Prosecution, and Senior Prosecutors Ahmad Murad Ahmad led the investigations which revealed that the victims were exploited and were forced to work in the massage parlour, owned by S.A. in collaboration with another female suspect," he added. "The victims weren't paid their salaries. We have asked the court for a stringent implementation of the anti-human trafficking law."

Coercion

Sources close to the case told Gulf News that the suspects are Chinese.

According to the bill of charges, the three Asian girls were obliged to offer sexual services under coercion and under the threat of being detained. Chief Prosecutor Bin Khatem, assistant head of DPP's special committee that investigates human trafficking cases revealed that the incident happened in a massage parlour in Rifaa Area.

One of the allegedly victimised massage therapists, T.S., reported to Al Rifaa Police Station that she was forced to offer sexual services for men.

Preliminary investigations showed that T.S. was flown to Dubai to work as a massage therapist in the parlour. A month later she was taken to the roof top of a flat where she was coerced to offer indecent services to a man.

When she refused to comply, according to prosecution records, S.A. said if she didn't comply she would be forced to pay for her residency and visa fees.

Source: GULFNEWS
gulfnews : Lewd massage parlours warned

Romanian woman ‘rescued’ from Manchester massage parlour says she was forced into sex trade - Manchester Evening News

Chris Osuh

December 14, 2010

A woman whose ‘rescue’ from a brothel sparked an investigation into a suspected Romanian sex trafficking ring has described her ordeal in court.

Bogdan Nejloveanu and his son, Marius, deny forcing six women to work as prostitutes in England and Spain.

Police began hunting the men after an outreach worker became concerned for the welfare of a woman working at the Shangri-La massage parlour, in Openshaw, in October 2008.

In a video interview played to the jury in the Manchester Crown Court trial, the woman claimed that she was beaten and forced to sell sex to strangers for as little as £10 after being tricked into coming to England.

The woman told the court that she was brought to the country with another alleged victim by Costel Maruntelu, who has been convicted of sex trafficking, and that she was led to believe she would get cleaning work.

She claimed that she became ‘scared and afraid’ and confronted Maruntelu about whether she was being trafficked to ‘do sex work’.

She said: “He said ‘no’, he really swore on his wife’s life and his life.”

However, when she arrived in Britain she said she was taken to Birmingham and introduced to the other victims already working as prostitutes.

She said: “I started to cry and say ‘I don’t want to do this’.”

The woman claimed she was told she owed a £2,000 debt for the cost of bringing her to Britain, and that she would have to sleep with punters to pay it off.

She testified that one of the other alleged victims got drunk and beat her ‘quite badly’ when she refused to perform certain sex acts with men who were brought to the Birmingham flat.

She said: “They really forced me, beat me up and forced me to do it.

“I was forced to accept it, I didn’t have any choice.”

She also testified that she was raped by Costel Maruntelu, who she said told her: “You can scream but there’s nobody here to help you or defend you.”

The jury has been told that the woman was later trafficked to Manchester to work and live at the Belle Air massage parlour on the outskirts of the city centre, before being found working at Shangri-La.

Marius Nejloveanu denies counts of trafficking a woman into, within and out of the UK for sexual exploitation, controlling prostitution for gain, rape, conspiracy to traffic a female into the UK for sexual exploitation, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, witness intimidation, assault, and causing a female to engage in sexual activity without consent.

Bogdan Nejloveanu denies trafficking women into and out of the UK, controlling prostitution for gain, assault and conspiracy to pervert the cause of justice.

Source: Manchester Evening News
Romanian woman ‘rescued’ from Manchester massage parlour says she was forced into sex trade - Manchester Evening News

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• Father and son ran sex trafficking 'family business' forcing women into UK, court hears (dailymail.co.uk)

After Delhi's disgrace, the shame: Child labourers pictured working on construction sites in frantic effort to get stadiums ready | Mail Online

Source: Mail Online

By Jonathan McEvoy
Last updated at 4:14 PM on 26th September 2010

CNN find dozens of incidents involving children of seven and younger

Save The Children 'concerned'

English athletes arrive to prepare for next week's events

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1314976/After-Delhis-disgrace-shame-Child-labourers-pictured-working-construction-sites-frantic-effort-stadiums-ready.html#ixzz10gYgpBB8

India was yesterday building its chaotic Commonwealth Games venues with the toil and sweat of the country's children.

Distressing pictures show children apparently as young as seven carrying hods and buckets as part of the Delhi's desperate bid to complete construction ahead of the opening ceremony a week tomorrow.

The images, released by CNN, drew criticism from Save The Children. 'We are concerned about reports of young children working on construction sites,' said the charity.

Carrying the can: A naked child walks with a pail as Commonwealth Games labourers look on at a site in Delhi discovered by CNN

Hard at work! A child quite clearly helping in the construction at the side of a road in Delhi outside the Indira Gandhi Stadium in one of dozens of instances catalogued by CNN

'The Games have attracted media attention to the issue of child labour, but we must not allow this issue to be forgotten after the momentary media glare subsides.'

It is an indication that the organisers - who have been criticised for the late-running of almost every aspect of the Games - are desperate to save the project from being cancelled as the first athletes, including the English party, arrived in Delhi.

Trafficking expert Siddharth Kara, a Harvard fellow, told CNN: 'I reliably documented in just a few days 32 cases of forced labour and 14 cases of child labour.

'Children were working, picking up hammers, banging stones, paving entry ways and planting grass along the roads to beautify them, hours and hours at a time.

Barefoot: A child risks injury in the middle of a site in Connaught Place, one of the main thoroughfares for Games traffic, as contractors furiously try to finish pavements before next week's opening ceremony

Shocking site: Another barefoot young child is photographed by CNN performing chores with older workers

'I documented children aged seven, eight, nine, ten years old working alongside their families in this mad rush to get the construction completed.'

Kara, a renowned expert on the subject of human trafficking, also outlined the harsh conditions these children were forced to work under:

'The conditions are sub-human and that's really the only word I can apply. They live in the dirt, they go to the toilet behind bushes and trees which is why they found human excrement in the athletes village a few days ago.

'The children, especially the young ones, don't have a sense of what's going on. They're told to do the work and they just do the work. They don't know that they should be in school or that they should be playing.'

Taken for granted: This family of labourers told CNN they had moved to Delhi before the Games but had not been paid for two monthss

The pictures emerged as English athletes began arriving in Delhi today.

Meanwhile, organisers were frantically last-minute deep clean of the athletes' village.

Queues of labourers began arriving at the village site this morning armed with brooms and mops ready to scrub clean stained wash basins and showers and sweep building rubble from floors.

Sporting bodies in England have now agreed 'unanimously' in favour of dispatching the entire squad to India for the tournament, which is due to start on October 3, despite shocking pictures exposing the filthy state of athletes' accommodation.

It was an advance English team of 22 including the English hockey and lawn bowling teams that arrived today, with others due to follow them in the coming days, although they plan to stay in hotels for a few days before moving to the village.

'Everybody is very excited, wants to get there, you know, get in with the action and get going, really,' Caroline Searle, spokeswoman for the English team, said as the athletes left the airport.

After holding its team back because of the problems, New Zealand also decided today to attend the games. Its athletes are to begin arriving in the Indian capital on Tuesday.

Clean sweep: Cleaners wait to enter the site of the Commonwealth Games village today

Indian cleaning staff scramble to complete last minute preparations for the Commonwealth Games

'We remain hopeful that things can be turned around,' committee President Mike Stanley said.

More...

• Images courtesy of CNN International / 'Connect The World

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also confirmed that they would be travelling to Delhi as planned for the October 3 opening ceremony.

The optimism signalled a major change in mood from earlier this week when team officials expressed horror at the conditions at the village - including excrement in rooms and problems with plumbing, wiring and furnishings.

Organisers earlier soothed the concerns of participating nations by giving a number of assurances over the safety of stadiums and improvements to the athletes' village.

The move followed a series of mishaps at the site of the Games, including a footbridge collapsing at the main arena and a ceiling caving in at the weightlifting venue.

In addition, teams hit out at accommodation for athletes described as 'unfit for human habitation'.

Ring of steel: A security post overlooks the site of the Commonwealth Games village as workers make final preparations today

Not authorised: A stray dog roams inside the Commonwealth Games village today

But the President of the Commonwealth Games Federation Mike Fennell today insisted 'considerable improvements' had been made to conditions in the athletes' village.

Mr Fennell added: 'It is vital that all remedial work that has already started continues with the greatest urgency.'

At least eight nations expressed reservations over the haphazard preparations for the Games.

Individual athletes, including reigning Commonwealth triple jump champion Phillips Idowu, have decided not to attend over safety fears.

Ongoing concerns over the structure of venues and accommodation conditions had risked the far more damaging prospect of entire teams pulling out of the event.

But as of last night, that outcome appeared to have been averted.

Nevertheless, criticism continued, with Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates saying India should not have been given the games.

'The problem is the Commonwealth Games Federation is under-resourced. It doesn't have the ability to monitor the progress of cities in the way the (International) Olympic Committee does,' he said.

The England team management said in a statement: 'Commonwealth Games England and its 17 member sports unanimously agreed that they will go to the Delhi Games.'

CGE's chef de mission, Craig Hunter, and our team in Delhi, are now seeing the improved levels of resourcing which are required to resolve the significant operational issues, but we will continue to monitor the situation daily to ensure the village and stadia are safe and fit for purpose.

England team members arrive as officials from the Commonwealth Games Federation from Britain take photographs at the athletes' village today

Enlarge

A labourer works in flood-water at the construction site of the hockey training stadium yesterday

'The board continues to press the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games Federation for assurances on both the stadia and the accommodation as well as liaising with the British Government. At all times the safety and security of our team is paramount.'

England had already decided to send an advance party of 22 athletes, including members of the men's hockey and bowls teams, to the host city today as planned.

Assurances given by organisers in New Delhi include accommodation maintenance, plus proof that all structural safety certificates for both the village and the venues are in place, backed with full insurance cover through the Delhi 2010 Organising Committee.

In addition, top hoteliers in the region have been brought in to oversee the cleanliness of the athletes' village.

Ready for action: Members from England's team for the Commonwealth Games arrive at the airport in Delhi today

Bowling in: England triples lawn bowler Sian Gordon arrives in New Delhi today

Lalit Bhanot, the secretary-general of the organising committee, further reassured participating nations that everything was being done to improve the buildings.

Mr Bhanot, who previously caused controversy by claiming that the problem was in part down to different standards of hygiene between the host nation and other countries, said he was confident the Games would be a success.

He added: 'The government, along with the organising committee, have made all efforts to get the place up to the standard that is desirable.

'Everything is fine. We have seen the work that has gone on in the past few days and you will see that the standard will be brought to the desired level.'

The guarantees, alongside frenzied work to improve stadium safety and accommodation conditions, led to a number of countries nodding their approval yesterday.

Wash and go? The bathrooms at the Commonwealth Games athletes' village have been exposed as being in a particularly poor state

Danger: Exposed cables and huge holes in the building work can be seen in these pictures

Team Wales said in a statement that it was 'confident in the assurances that have been provided'.

It added: 'The advance party will now be moving into our accommodation and we look forward to welcoming our athletes in the coming days.'

Likewise, Scottish athletes appear to be on track to arrive over the weekend.

Team Scotland's representative Jon Doig said: 'We have continued to make progress addressing the maintenance and operational issues within our own accommodation block and things are looking much better.'

He added that the team should be in a position today to confirm that athletes will travel to Delhi tomorrow.

Welsh cyclist Geraint Thomas became the latest high-profile athlete to pull out of the Games.

Speaking on Daybreak, the Olympic gold medalist said he was withdrawing from the competition because of 'hygiene' concerns.

He said: 'The risk of myself getting ill just seemed too great. I had a chat with my coach and a couple of doctors at British Cycling and that was the conclusion we came to.

'I don't have a spleen, which fights infections, so I'm obviously a bit more susceptible to picking things up.'

Thomas ruptured his spleen when he crashed during a training session in Australia in February 2005 and subsequently had it removed.

He told the BBC Wales website he was preparing for a World Cup race the following day when he hit metal debris in the road, falling onto the handlebars of his bike. The 24-year-old was back riding six weeks after his operation.

Thomas had a successful Tour de France this year, competing for Team Sky. He wore the white jersey as the best rider under 25 and was second overall for a number of days.

After Delhi's disgrace, the shame: Child labourers pictured working on construction sites in frantic effort to get stadiums ready | Mail Online

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BBC News - Anti-human trafficking post criticised

Source: BBC News

Pete Clark of Terence Higgins Trust Cymru
wants help for those already working in the sex industry

The head of a sexual health charity has criticised a Welsh Assembly Government decision to appoint an anti-human trafficking officer.

Pete Clark of Terence Higgins Trust Cymru said the money would be better spent helping existing sex workers.

It comes as a senior police officer rejected suggestions that sex trafficking was on the rise in Wales.

The assembly government defended the decision, and said the post would uncover the true scale of trafficking.

At least 2,600 women are working as prostitutes in Wales and England after having been trafficked from abroad, research for the police suggests.

The new post was announced on 9 September by Social Justice Minister Carl Sargeant in response to a cross-party assembly report which found Wales' 22 local authorities put the number of "proven" or "suspected" cases of human trafficking at 15 in the past year.

However, the group's chair, Joyce Watson, said more women and children were being enslaved in the industry than official figures suggested and the number could surge around the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor, Newport in early October.

"Trafficking is a modern-day slavery which is happening near us now, and not just in our big cities”

Joyce Watson AM

Mid and West Wales AM Ms Watson felt there was a danger of people ignoring the real issue - that of the involvement of minors in the sex trade.

She said: "All those identified in our report as being subject to human trafficking are children.

"Although we approached 22 local authorities, I know these are not the true figures. One of the authorities who did not respond in time told me it had 19 cases alone and another told me they had regular incidents involving children and trafficking, either for sex or forced labour.

'Wild guess-timates'

"I'm delighted Mr Sargeant agreed to appoint the co-ordinator. I'm hoping the post will pull all the different agencies together so that people feel more empowered to report suspected incidents of trafficking.

"Trafficking is a modern-day slavery which is happening near us now, and not just in our big cities."

Disagreeing, Mr Clark told BBC Wales' Eye on Wales programme: "The figures have been thrown about, wild 'guess-timates' of the number of women who are trafficked into sex work, but there's very little evidence to support this either in England or Wales.

Police say at least 2,600 women working as
prostitutes in Wales and England were trafficked

"What we do know is there's a considerable number of economic migrants, young women who have come from other areas of the world to sell sex in Wales because they can earn 10 times what they can from selling sex in their own country.

"There's a massive difference between somebody being trafficked and somebody making an economic choice to move to a different country."

He said he would be watching how the new assembly post evolved with interest, but the money could have been put to better use.

"I think that money would be much better spent addressing the issue of sex workers and ensuring the safety of sex workers regardless of whether they are working on streets, in brothels or from private apartments," he said.

"There is not much evidence of human trafficking, but forced labour is occurring” Jeff Farrar Assistant chief constable, Gwent Police

Forced labour

"We seem to be spending an awful lot of time, money and effort looking for another population on top of these when those people who are already visible do not have the services they need."

Assistant chief constable Jeff Farrar of Gwent Police, who leads on protecting vulnerable people and human trafficking for the Association of Chief Police Officers Cymru, welcomed the new post.

He said the report had enabled an improvement in intelligence gathering on the trafficking situation by the police, the voluntary sector and government agencies.

Citing police figures which are separate from those the assembly gathered from local authorities, he said: "There is not much evidence of human trafficking, but forced labour is occurring.

"In the past 12 months we have had 22 referrals through the national referral mechanism from across the whole of Wales.

"Of those we have sent through, nine have been male and 13 women, 13 adult and nine children."

Knowledge and expertise

Of the children referred, seven were exploited through labour, one was sexual exploitation and one was unknown exploitation.

Mr Farrar said he accepted trying to get somebody who was being sexually exploited to report it to the police was very difficult and the true picture may be greater.

But he said the new assembly post could only assist in achieving a truer picture of the current trafficking situation.

A Welsh Assembly Government spokesperson said the post would help uncover more victims of trafficking.

"The post, which will sit with the Gwent Police force, will bring together the knowledge and expertise of relevant authorities such as the police, social services and the UK Border Agency, the Children's Commissioner for Wales and voluntary organisations," said the spokesperson.

"The post holder will be responsible for developing community specific strategies which reflect an area's landscape - rural, urban, linguistic and cultural, and raise awareness of local people so more traffickers and victims could be uncovered.

"The post holder will also ensure that Wales gathers evidence to show what services are required and where in the country they should be targeted."

Eye on Wales is on BBC Radio Wales at 1300 BST on Sunday, 26 September.

BBC News - Anti-human trafficking post criticised

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